Development - 1st Discussions Feb - Apr 2017

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Discussion 1 Timeline

DISCUSSION TIMELINE

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First DayFeb. 01

Week 2Feb. 15

Week 4March 01

Week 6March 15

Week 8 March 29

Week 10April 12

Brazilia, BrazilMar 18-23rd

The 8th World Water Forum will have Water for Sustainable Development as one of its central themes, focusing on water for human activities and the role of water use in different sectors and in countries’ development. In order to reach that, four topics have been set to comprise the debate questions under Development. The following topics should split into Thematic Sessions and other debate stages during the 8th World Water Forum in 2018:

Water, energy and food security nexus (Water for food/ Water for energy)

Inclusive and sustainable growth, water stewardship and industry

Efficient use of surface water and groundwater - urban and rural

Infrastructure for sustainable water resource management and services

Considering the above topics about Development:

What are the major challenges under each topic that concern civil society and communities and need to be raised for debate during the 8th World Water Forum?

How those challenges apply to problems in your city, community or neighbouring surroundings?

Your feedback will support the organization instances of the Forum in the definition of Thematic Sessions and other opportunities for debate during the event.

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Financing for Water Quality. Water quality is intrinsicatly linked with human health, poverty reduction, gender equality, food security, livehoods and the preservation of ecosystems as well as economic growth and social development of our societies. Water quality problems present a major challenge in both developing and developed countries. Technical, institutional, policy and financial challenges still remain to be addressed despite global efforts and initiatives to improve access to safe water and improve water and wastewater management.

Financing for Water Quality. Water quality is intrinsicatly linked with human health, poverty reduction, gender equality, food security, livehoods and the preservation of ecosystems as well as economic growth and social development of our societies. Water quality problems present a major challenge in both developing and developed countries. Technical, institutional, policy and financial challenges still remain to be addressed despite global efforts and initiatives to improve access to safe water and improve water and wastewater management.

Development Water for and Health equitably, water can play a key enabling role in strengthening the strengthening the resilience of social, economic and environmental systems in the light of rapid and unpredictable changes.

Development water for sustainable and Health. Water is at the core of sustainable development and is critical for socio - economic development, healthy ecosystems and for human survival itself. It is vital for reducing the global burden of disease and improving the health, welfare and productivity of populations. It is central to the production and preservation of a host of benefits and services for people. Water is also at the heart of adaption to climate change, serving as the crucial link between the climate system, human society and the environment. Water is a finite and irreplaceable resource that is fundamental to human well- being....Read more

Development water for sustainable and Health. Water is at the core of sustainable development and is critical for socio - economic development, healthy ecosystems and for human survival itself. It is vital for reducing the global burden of disease and improving the health, welfare and productivity of populations. It is central to the production and preservation of a host of benefits and services for people. Water is also at the heart of adaption to climate change, serving as the crucial link between the climate system, human society and the environment. Water is a finite and irreplaceable resource that is fundamental to human well- being. It is only renewable if well managed. Today, more than 17 billion people live in the river basins where depletion through use exceeds natural recharge, a trend that will see two - thirds of the world's population living in water - stressed countries challenge to sustainable development but managed efficiently and Groundwater's role in Southern Africa. Groundwater occurrence in Southern Africa is characterised by the large variety of geological structure.

Climate Water Security & climate change. UNESCO - International Hydrological Programme organizes the Knowledge Forum on Water Security and Climate Change, dedicated to connecting young scientists with senior scientists and water practioners to facilitate collaboration, learning and knowledge - sharing primarily through, events, workshop, communication and information technologies (ICT)...Read more

Climate Water Security & climate change. UNESCO - International Hydrological Programme organizes the Knowledge Forum on Water Security and Climate Change, dedicated to connecting young scientists with senior scientists and water practioners to facilitate collaboration, learning and knowledge - sharing primarily through, events, workshop, communication and information technologies (ICT). The aim of the Knowledge Forum will be also to facilitate knowledge encourage, enhance collaboration between developing countries (south - south cooperation), and to Climate Change will be open to Masters, PhD students and stakeholders with the aim of enhance citizen science.

Although water covers more than two - thirds of the earth's surface, less than 0.5% is readily available for human use. It thus represents a scarce resource for the people around the world. Shortages of water, particularly for drinking and sanitation, are often primarily driven by an inefficient supply of services rather than by water shortages, hence the important role of education in promoting sound water governanc...Read more

Although water covers more than two - thirds of the earth's surface, less than 0.5% is readily available for human use. It thus represents a scarce resource for the people around the world. Shortages of water, particularly for drinking and sanitation, are often primarily driven by an inefficient supply of services rather than by water shortages, hence the important role of education in promoting sound water governance. ESD provides an opportunity for learners, especially the excluded orvmarginalizes, to receive a water related education, including science, water - fetching, sanitation and hygiene as well as to develop the relevant knowledge, skills, values and behaviors in a water sustainability - friendly context. This implies that: - Learning encourages behavioral changes and provides the skills required for participation in water governance, - Schools and other educational environments promote water sustainability, with access to safe water and sanitation. - Educational structures, policy and management provide guidance, oversight, coordination, monitoring and evaluation to ensure an effective, sustainable and institutionalized educational response to water governance challenges. Water and ESD at UNESCO. The first UNESCO Associated Schools (ASPnet) Regional Flagship Project on Water Education was initiated by the United Arab Emirates National Commission for UNESCO in the Arab States region as a contribution to the DESD. The objective of this project is to encourage the participation of ASPnet schools in conversation and awareness activities. Many communities in Arab States are facing severe water shortage and a water quality crisis. The purposes of this water education project are to raise water consciousness among students to incorporate water conversation into their lifestyles, to develop positive changes in water conservation behaviour, and to develop effective educational approaches and materials on water management and protection. Since September 2007, ASPnet schools in participating countries have been testing the educational material proposed ( in English and Arabic).

We urge the Delegates at the Consultative Meeting to please consider fundamental issues highlighted in this Statement to the ongoing 2017 Spring Meetings of WBG and IMF and take appropriate Action in Global Interest.

Dear Shashidhar, many thanks for your valuable and interesting post. I think this is a very important area namely the use of technology and in particular software systems to manage the water allocation in large irrigation systems. If I understad you correct, I think the model you are refering to has had a lot of success especially good buy-in from the farmers. It would be really good if you can list some of the key reasons for it's success for example why and how have the farmers benefited from this tool compared to perhaps any other tool you may know of or even that has been tried and tested in this irrigation system in the past. I think this information will be very valuable to take...Read more

Dear Shashidhar, many thanks for your valuable and interesting post. I think this is a very important area namely the use of technology and in particular software systems to manage the water allocation in large irrigation systems. If I understad you correct, I think the model you are refering to has had a lot of success especially good buy-in from the farmers. It would be really good if you can list some of the key reasons for it's success for example why and how have the farmers benefited from this tool compared to perhaps any other tool you may know of or even that has been tried and tested in this irrigation system in the past. I think this information will be very valuable to take on board at the next Forum.

Thank you for your kind comments. Please excuse me for delay in replying, as I was in fieldwork in a remote village.

The major reason for our success was the realisation by the farmers that, before using the model they were having no voice in choosing how much water they were receiving.But use of the model made them to take informed decisions and they would become assertive while sitting across decision table with water supplying agencies.

Secondly,rostering water for each distributory made the work of water supply engineers easy and exciting(because of use of technology), made them to play with the model by visualising different scenarios of water availabilty and/or water demands.

The important take away from the feedback at the training was that this optimum water allocation would result in ensuring that upper and middle reaches of command areas would be free from water logging and tail end reaches would receive water for the first time.

What questions have been over answered and How questions have been avoided or evaded. The UN System: UNO, WBG, IMF and Member States: Study Reports; Conferences and Meetings Outcome Docuemnts Reccommendations on Sustainable Development in general and Water in particular are not fully implemented with effective monitoring and evaluation of same from Community to Global levels. The Big Issue is How does the 8th Water Forum Design and Delivery address these serious issues of serious business demanding the serious attention of all concerned Community to Global Stakeholders?

Lets' try to vote for the thematic sessions that has been proposed through the room discussions. The voting will end in 7 days, so please make your effort to contribute to select the session topics.Tell water leaders & experts which "water for sustainable development" issues to debate at #WorldWaterForum8 http://www.worldwaterforum8.org/

I submit that the major challenge in global context, and particulrly in south Indian irrigation sector is equitable distribution of irrigation water to initial,mid and tail reaches of canal network.The situation is so precarious that the farmers in initial and mid reaches let in far more quantity of water than their crops need,thereby spoiling their crop fields. The famers in the tail end receive almost no water,resulting in starving of their crops.

I submit that the major challenge in global context, and particulrly in south Indian irrigation sector is equitable distribution of irrigation water to initial,mid and tail reaches of canal network.The situation is so precarious that the farmers in initial and mid reaches let in far more quantity of water than their crops need,thereby spoiling their crop fields. The famers in the tail end receive almost no water,resulting in starving of their crops.

Under such situation, we have come up with a ICT based water allocation model for equitable distribution of agricultural water.The stake holders who were trained in its use feel confident about their participation in the decision making process,and want to know more about such sustainable development tools and experiences worldwide.

I understand the issue and think that field based participatory water management need to be practiced where farmers can themselves open and close their gates and also be aware on the amount of water needed for their crops. The ICT models can provide the data on water flow, and time the canal gates should keep open a day (for example) and even programme the schedule for each field. At the same time farmers has to be aware and act by themselves to open water at the given schedule. I think this need proper planning and coordination by the irrigation engineers and staff who are involved, and capacitated to plan and implement scheduled water delivery system as you correctly mentioned.

Similarly in large scale irrigation, new technolgies play a key role in planning amount of water needed, sprinker system installation, monitoring the fields etc. We look forward to discuss the new technologies and tools for productivity in the WWf 2018. You will see this topic is represented in the topics which are available for voting under development theme; http://www.worldwaterforum8.org/

The thematic framework has been set on an all-round and forward-looking perspective that incorporates the most prominent water issues in the world. By focusing on the overarching theme “sharing water”, the 8th WWF is more people and environment oriented by highlighting sustainability, capacity building, and other aspects.

The thematic framework has been set on an all-round and forward-looking perspective that incorporates the most prominent water issues in the world. By focusing on the overarching theme “sharing water”, the 8th WWF is more people and environment oriented by highlighting sustainability, capacity building, and other aspects.

With great support from the Ministry of Water Resources of China (MWR), China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (IWHR), China's top and largest research institute in water and hydropower sectors, is here to apply for the coordinator of Topic d of theme DEVELOPMENT: Infrastructure for sustainable water resource management and services-IR1.4.

Faced by the challenges of climate change, urbanization development, environmental stress and water shortage, it becomes a consensus of the world water community to manage water resources in a more comprehensive and scientific way through rational planning, operation and regulation. The Chinese government echoes that consensus by adopting a sustainable development concept emphasizing innovation, coordination, green growth, opening-up and sharing. As a country with the largest number of water infrastructure and hydropower projects, China has accumulated rich experience in balancing the demand of infrastructure development and sustainable water resources management, including the management of water diversion projects, water storage infrastructure, water supply projects, and irrigation and drainage facilities on scales of both local areas and river basin, in a bid to deliver related services and enhance resilience in coping with extreme disasters.

With the 8th WWF as the platform, IWHR, under the auspices of MWR, is always willing to contribute to global water development and adaption to water-related challenges, while promoting the exchange and cooperation between China and the international community.

Thanks for the comment. It was posted twice, so I deleted the repeated post. Good to hear the contribution and involvement you are already making in the WWF8. Have you already been contact with the organizing commitee regarding this sesion coordination you mentioned?

Your contribution last week was great towards shaping up the WWF agenda. We have also started voting for main subtopics, which is available at http://www.worldwaterforum8.org/

So please use your valuable chance to vote.

This week one of the main discussion points talked about creation of ecological solutions with involvement of schools students in fighting climate change. The involvement of school teachers and students in the forum would be a vehicle for change, starting actions from their schools which will also lead into curriculum changes to incorporate water and environment education at young age. Wastewater treatment and reuse is discussed repeatedly in the forum for many weeks. While water and related resources conservation is becoming a burning need, development of infrastructure becomes urgent need of some unserved and marginalized communities. Effective water use for hydropower generation especially in African rural context has been highlighted as a need. Water for food security was also critically debated towards end of last week. Let's continue using the most out of this space to raise your voice!

As some of you may already know, your posts and debates in the "Your Voice" forum have been contributed to help preparing the 8th World Water Forum in Brasília-Brazil, in 2018. After 6 weeks of lively debates, 90 water issues have been identified and are now presented for voting at worldwaterforum8.org, in 4 languages.

You can go to http://www.worldwaterforum8.org/ and Vote under your “Development” topic or Vote under all the topics as you wish. You can also promote this voting through your social media.

The topic Water Energy and Food Security nexus, is very relevant for my country Uganda with approximately 75% of the population living in rural areas, and with country-wide access to electrcirty under 12%. The need for renewable energy schemes that utilise water e.g small hydro and mini-hydro projects will be crucial in faciliating rural electrification and sustainable development in rural Uganda and Africa generally....Read more

The topic Water Energy and Food Security nexus, is very relevant for my country Uganda with approximately 75% of the population living in rural areas, and with country-wide access to electrcirty under 12%. The need for renewable energy schemes that utilise water e.g small hydro and mini-hydro projects will be crucial in faciliating rural electrification and sustainable development in rural Uganda and Africa generally. The major challenges that concern communities include lack of approporiate government policy to allow for partnerships between rural communities that have access to land and water resources e.g small rivers and streams, with private investors or developers, who have capital and technology, to offer affordable reneweable energy solutions at local level. The regulatory framework for development of small and mini hydro projects in rural communities should be decentralised to allow for smooth project preparation, planning, implementaion and operation.

Hi Nicholas ! We thank you and welcome your input in our group. In fact, we appreciate very much comments coming from African countries as we, in South America, know very little about your reality. The 9th WWF will be in Senegal in 2021 and I believe the participation and contributions by people like you are essential at this stage and will be even further in Brasília next year.

The topic "Infrastructure for sustainable water resource management and services" is of interest to us here in Uganda and Africa in general. Alot of the agricutre in Uganda is rain-fed and is done by small holder farmers (farmers with land acrage less than 4 acres). Climate change and drought have increasingly posed challenges to our small holder farmers. We could learn alot from the South American experience on irrigation infrastructure, water schemes and water storgae infrastructure e.g dams etc to support growth and productivity in agriculture. Agriculure in my country employs over 75% of the population, and more than 80% of this agricultrue is done on small holder farms....Read more

The topic "Infrastructure for sustainable water resource management and services" is of interest to us here in Uganda and Africa in general. Alot of the agricutre in Uganda is rain-fed and is done by small holder farmers (farmers with land acrage less than 4 acres). Climate change and drought have increasingly posed challenges to our small holder farmers. We could learn alot from the South American experience on irrigation infrastructure, water schemes and water storgae infrastructure e.g dams etc to support growth and productivity in agriculture. Agriculure in my country employs over 75% of the population, and more than 80% of this agricultrue is done on small holder farms. South American experiences can be helpful to us. Does Brazil and South America in general have many small holder farmers? Is irrigation used widely in rural areas? Are there affordbale irrigation technologies and infrastructure that we can access, based on South American experiences?

Globally, the vast majority of all the wastewater from our homes, cities, industry and agriculture flows back to nature without being treated or reused – polluting the environment, and losing valuable nutrients and other recoverable materials.

Instead of wasting wastewater, we need to reduce and reuse it. In our homes, we can reuse greywater on our gardens and plots. In our cities, we can treat and reuse wastewater for green spaces. In industry and agriculture, we can treat and recycle discharge for things like cooling systems and irrigation.

Hi Ghislaine ! Thank you very much for your input. In Brazil, a lot of people in cities are already aware of how essential it is water recycling and reuse. Many households recycle their wastewater for watering gardens and/or flushing toilets.Yet, these small initiatives are not enough. We need further commitment from governments and educational campaigns on the cost of water for society as a whole.

Thanks Lijie for that very interesting comment. This is a very important issue you have touched on namely how one needs to be mindful of "Sustainability" of a resource as a country or community develops. And so yes, the "Water" resource often is the sector which suffers both in terms of quality and quantity and hence this theme at the 8th WWF to address "Sustainability" issues of Water. It would be good to hear from you a few specific examples as to what the authorities are doing to mitigate or control this for example with success stories if any. If not presumably the discussion can be focused on hearing success stories from other regions to move forward the discussion.

Thanks Lijie for that very interesting comment. This is a very important issue you have touched on namely how one needs to be mindful of "Sustainability" of a resource as a country or community develops. And so yes, the "Water" resource often is the sector which suffers both in terms of quality and quantity and hence this theme at the 8th WWF to address "Sustainability" issues of Water. It would be good to hear from you a few specific examples as to what the authorities are doing to mitigate or control this for example with success stories if any. If not presumably the discussion can be focused on hearing success stories from other regions to move forward the discussion.

Water resources is the foundation for people's living and development. With the development of China's economy, the shortage of city water resources and water pollution have seriously hindered the sustainable development of the society. Although in recent years, our country pay more attention to the prevention and controlling of water pollution, but along with our accelerating in urbanization process, the urban water supply and water pollution are increasing, all these puts forward higher requirements in city water pollution control work.

Water resources is the foundation for people's living and development. With the development of China's economy, the shortage of city water resources and water pollution have seriously hindered the sustainable development of the society. Although in recent years, our country pay more attention to the prevention and controlling of water pollution, but along with our accelerating in urbanization process, the urban water supply and water pollution are increasing, all these puts forward higher requirements in city water pollution control work.

At present, the main problems in the protection of urban water supply and water pollution control are: 1. Centralized wastewater treatment is difficult. China's urban wastewater has the characteristics of large quantity and wide range. Although, at present, China has increased the centralized management of urban wastewater, but because of technology, money and management reasons, many urban wastewater is still not centralized treatment. 2. The shortage of wastewater monitoring. At present, China is roundly implementing "river head system", that is local head as the main person responsible for the local river, undertake the management and protection of the local rivers and lakes. However, we have not enough specific monitoring data, when water pollution occurs, who will be responsible? 3. Public supervision mechanism is weak.

I am in the Pearl River Water Resources Protection Bureau, this is a institution of the Pearl River Water Resources Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources. My bureau is mainly responsible for the management and protection of water resources in the Pearl River. At present in the water resource protection and water pollution prevention, we have done a lot of work, including: the implementation of registration in the sewage; in the junction of two provinces set up automatic water quality monitoring station; promoting the provincial cooperation system. The implementation of these measures has played a very positive role in management and protection of water resources in the Pearl River basin.

Please view the contributions on the People session, viz.joint ventures and projects related to water management and distribution in the Latin America and Caribbean regions.. Some o fthese can be duplicated in other regions of the world.

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The World Water Forum is the world’s biggest water-related event and is organized by the World Water Council (WWC), an international organization that brings together all those interested in the theme of water.